Academic Progress Rates took another step forward for Golden Gopher athletic programs, according to the eighth round of NCAA APR totals announced by athletics department officials today.

The report, which the NCAA will release nationwide later this month, includes data for the 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years. It shows that multiyear rates for all 25 sports are above the new 930 cutline, with 22 of the Gophers' 25 sports scoring higher than 965 to rank among what the NCAA considers to be "high performing" teams. Teams falling below the new 930 cutline may be subject to scholarship reductions and barred from participating in the postseason, including all NCAA tournaments and football bowl games, under guidelines passed by the NCAA Board of Directors in October of 2011.

For 2010-11, 20 of 25 teams recorded scores of 973 or better. As a result, the department posted its highest ever average single-year APR score of 980.36.

"I'm so proud of the work our student-athletes, coaches, faculty and McNamara Academic staff have done to continue improving the academic progress and retention of our student-athletes," director of athletics Joel Maturi said. "We have come a long way since the APR was instituted and though there is still improvements that can be made; these figures represent a continued commitment to academic success and degree completion."

Ten programs recorded perfect APR scores of 1,000 for 2010-11, the most ever for Minnesota since the APR was instituted. Included among the programs with perfect APR scores were baseball, cross country, gymnastics, tennis, and indoor and outdoor track & field on the men's side, and basketball, gymnastics, softball, and tennis on the women's side. Other notable APR figures were turned in by wrestling (992), women's cross country (990), women's swimming & diving (993) and women's indoor (985) and outdoor (986) track & field.

The strong APR report goes hand-in-hand with positive GPA numbers for Gopher student-athletes over the past academic year. After a Fall term that saw that 23 of 25 programs, including football, earn a team term GPA of 3.00 or above, Spring term GPAs for all student-athletes averaged 3.19, which is the highest figure since athletics began tracking GPAs in 1999, according to McNamara Academic Center director Lynn Holleran. The solid Spring term performance also pushed cumulative GPAs to their highest levels since tracking began and now average 3.18, with 22 of 25 teams boasting cumulative GPAs over 3.00.

APR scores are determined by eligibility and retention for each student-athlete on scholarship during a particular academic year. Student-athletes are awarded one point for each semester they are enrolled and one point for each semester they are eligible for intercollegiate competition. A student-athlete can earn a maximum of four points during an academic year. Additional points are not given for student-athletes that graduate at the end of the semester, but rather the student-athlete is awarded one point for retention and one point for eligibility.

The APR is calculated by taking the number of possible points for a particular sport for the four years and dividing that number by the total number of points earned from student-athlete retention and eligibility over the same period of time. The percentage is then multiplied by 1,000 to obtain the actual multiyear rate used in the report.

The purpose of the APR, according to the NCAA, is to provide a "real-time snapshot" of each team's academic performance. The NCAA requires teams to maintain a minimum multiyear APR of 930 to avoid contemporaneous penalties that include postseason bans and the possibility of losing grant-in-aid for the period of one year if a student-athlete leaves school while academically ineligible. Institutions will not be allowed to award the grant-in-aid from the ineligible student-athlete to a different student-athlete. The contemporaneous penalties only apply when a team below the 930 cutline does not retain an academically ineligible student-athlete.

For more information on the APR, please visit the NCAA website at NCAA.org.